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It's being called the mother of all recalls with more than 2.4 million vehicles in the U.S. needing repairs.
Yet a week into Toyota's massive effort to fix sticky gas pedals, dealers and customers say things are moving relatively smoothly.

It seems this "colonel" was an officer.
Accused child molester Colonel G. Willis Jr. was a police officer with the Monroeville and New London police departments years ago. He started in Monroeville in July 1998 and worked there for a few months.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has announced a new bill that would tax bonuses given to executives at firms that received help from U.S. taxpayers in order to fund loans for small businesses. Brown's bill would use revenues generated from taxing bonuses at firms who received assistance through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to help small businesses expand operations and hire new workers.
"It's time for Wall Street to return the favor to Main Street," Brown said. "While big banks have rebounded thanks to the help of American taxpayers, small businesses are still struggling. If a big firm that received taxpayer help is now paying out massive bonuses, they should be able to help American small businesses expand operations and hire new workers. Small business growth will create jobs and get our economy back on track."

WILLARD - A Willard woman is fighting to re-open her resale shop New to You, which was forced to close a few months ago because of zoning issues.
Owner Judy Smith is requesting the property for her Richmond Township business to be changed from residential-agricultural to commercial.

LOS ANGELES (MCT) - For a man who didn't step foot out of his house Friday, Roman Polanski had an eventful day.
His new film, "The Ghost Writer,' a political thriller with a glamorous Hollywood cast, debuted at the Berlin Film Festival. And his legal battle to avoid return to the U.S. got a boost when a Swiss official said extradition proceedings stemming from his three-decade-old child-sex case were on indefinite hold.

Most kids like sweets, but for some children there may be an underlying cause for that affinity.
A new study finds there may be a link between sweet preference in children and a family history of alcoholism, plus the child's feelings of depression.

An estimated 57 million Americans have contracted pandemic H1N1 influenza since the outbreak began last April, about 257,000 have been hospitalized with complications from it and nearly 12,000 have died, according to estimates released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The total number infected represents an increase of about 7 million flu cases since the latest estimate in December, a modest increase that correlates with other data suggesting the pandemic has been waning.

Walter Fredrick Morrison, whose post-World War II invention of a "flying' plastic disc became an American recreational icon known as the Frisbee, has died. He was 90.
Morrison died Tuesday of age-related causes at his home in Monroe, Utah, said his son, Walt.

"I thought we might talk some about a matter which seems to be attracting a lot of attention among our military and political leaders: 'Don't ask, Don't tell'," opened the philosopher as fellow members of the Cheap Coffee Club, all veterans, relaxed in their chairs, cups of hot coffee in their hands.
"For myself, while in the service I never met anyone who I knew to be homosexual. Nor was I approached in that regard."

One of the several challenges our ancestors faced was to travel from Point "A" to Point "B" in the days before improved roads, trains and interurban lines. Much travel was by foot or horseback, but for long distance travel the use of a stagecoach was almost imperative.
That last sentence sounds like some sort of punishment, and in some ways it was. We see the stages in western movies or on TV and they're traveling along smoothly at a good speed. In reality, though, the roads were not smooth and the stage was liable to be almost sideways at times when there was a bad mud hole. Then there was the dust kicked up by the wheels and the horses' hooves...and let's not forget that the rough roads also threw the passengers side to side and perhaps against the top of the passenger compartment.

WILLARD - A chimney fire early Wednesday morning burned the east side of the house and displaced the couple who lived there.
Homeowner Eric Dilgard, of 406 W. U.S. 224, called 9-1-1 at 2:42 a.m. about his chimney being on fire. Huron County Sheriff's Dispatcher Theresa Daniel told him "to get everyone out of the house," she wrote in her report. Daniel sent the Tri-Community Joint Fire District, Firelands Electric and Deputy Janet Lichoff to the scene.

MONROEVILLE - Monroeville police have identified the student who texted another student about a school bomb threat last month, but the culprit's future in court is uncertain.
Monroeville Local Schools was evacuated for about a half-hour Jan. 15 due to a student receiving a text message the previous night.

akrause@norwalkreflector.com
The president of a fiscally conservative group says the fact that Ohio forces employees to join unions at companies that have them is partly to blame for Ohio's economic problems
Matt Mayer, president of the Buckeye Institute, spoke to Norwalk Area Huron County Chamber of Commerce Monday. He wants area business leaders to advocate for more business-friendly rules at the state level.
A new institute report looked back to 1990 and 2000 to see how Ohio fared in the "mythical boom era" of the 1990s.

Norwalk resident Joe Hintz has announced his candidacy for Huron County commissioner.
Unless another Republican files petitions by Feb. 18, causing a May primary, Hintz will face Democrat Mike Adelman in November's general election. Hintz, 53, is a 1974 Norwalk High School graduate.

Hawaii was the holdout.
Following three major snowstorms in rapid succession, the last of which paralyzed the Deep South, nearly every state in the United States had snow on the ground Friday. Florida joined the list as the No. 49th state, thanks to accumulation in the panhandle.

The 2009 St. Paul High School football championship squad became immortal - maybe not in flesh, but in the form of a jersey signed by all the players that will forever hang in the Firelands Historical Society museum.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (PA SPORTSTICKER) - A luger hurtling at nearly 90 mph down a track that athletes had warned was dangerously fast was killed when he lost control of his sled on a training run Friday, casting a shadow of grief over what was already a troubled Olympics even before the games could begin.
Nodar Kumaritashvili, a 21-year-old slider from the republic of Georgia, flew over the track wall and slammed into an unpadded steel pole near the finish line.

Who wants to be a millionaire? Well, everybody. However, 1997 Bellevue High School graduate Steve Evert didn't just talk about earning &#036;1 million. He went out and tried to earn it on the popular television gameshow "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."

Rachel's Challenge, a school program focusing on the diaries and personality of a slain Columbine High School student, has been rescheduled for Feb. 26. The program was originally set for today.
The program's basis is the kindness of 17-year-old Rachel Scott, the first person killed at the school on April 20, 1999. The program includes video and audio footage of Scott's life. Nicole Nowlen, a former Columbine student who was shot in the library, will speak.

COLUMBUS - The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) today approved the application filed by Frontier Communication Corporation, New Communications Holdings, Inc. (NCH) and Verizon Communications, Inc. seeking PUCO approval of a change in ownership.
The Commission approved the merger after reviewing the application, the evidence and the stipulations filed. In reaching its decision, the Commission considered several issues including transactional synergies and financial considerations, in-state presence, quality of service and competition and wholesale operations. The Commission also considered Frontier's broadband commitment.